- Dec 19, 2017
- 1
- 7
- 64
I joined today for a couple reasons. I have 6 chickens, all buff Orpington. Three of them are almost a year old (two girls and a boy) , and three are about 2 months old(one girl and two boys). My mother also has chickens and is a big fan of this site for advice.
So, the main reason I joined is because I'm having an issue introducing the babies into the coop (we hatched them ourselves from the eggs of the adults). I tried about a month ago, and one of them was pecked to death by one of the adult females while I was at work. This left us with only three babies.
I followed the advice I found on here, about introducing them in the middle of the night, and keeping them separated at first. Well, once all seemed fine, I let them all hang out together for the day and came home to a dead baby. It was very sad. So, I brought the remaining three back inside to grow a bit more.
Last night, I put them back out in the coop, while the adults were asleep. At some point a little while later, I heard some commotion. I went outside to check and sure enough, an adult female was pecking away at the baby girl. Thank goodness I caught it and the little one is doing fine. I brought her in, cleaned her up and separated the chickens again.
I would keep them segregated, except our coop really isn't conducive to that. And, I was planning to bring the two boys to my mother, as my neighborhood would not be happy with the crowing of three roosters. But, I can't have just one little baby girl all by herself.
So, what should I do? Any suggestions? On a side note, I've noticed that my adults are all pretty aggressive, and love to attack the fence whenever someone is walking by.
Any advice offered is greatly appreciated! Thank you!!
So, the main reason I joined is because I'm having an issue introducing the babies into the coop (we hatched them ourselves from the eggs of the adults). I tried about a month ago, and one of them was pecked to death by one of the adult females while I was at work. This left us with only three babies.
I followed the advice I found on here, about introducing them in the middle of the night, and keeping them separated at first. Well, once all seemed fine, I let them all hang out together for the day and came home to a dead baby. It was very sad. So, I brought the remaining three back inside to grow a bit more.
Last night, I put them back out in the coop, while the adults were asleep. At some point a little while later, I heard some commotion. I went outside to check and sure enough, an adult female was pecking away at the baby girl. Thank goodness I caught it and the little one is doing fine. I brought her in, cleaned her up and separated the chickens again.
I would keep them segregated, except our coop really isn't conducive to that. And, I was planning to bring the two boys to my mother, as my neighborhood would not be happy with the crowing of three roosters. But, I can't have just one little baby girl all by herself.
So, what should I do? Any suggestions? On a side note, I've noticed that my adults are all pretty aggressive, and love to attack the fence whenever someone is walking by.
Any advice offered is greatly appreciated! Thank you!!
